clinique

In 21 years of coming here ,doing buisness here and the last 5 years living here i have been stopped 3 times every one was a driving error on my part,the police have always been polite and never asked for a bribe. so no no problems whatsoever.

Yup, seconded. Same experience here.

Donations can get to the point where it is hardly worth having the business - especially if you flaunt the rules, hence loss of face to Bib, leading to increased donations or worst case loss of licence or closure of business. Donations only go so far and do not make owners immune from 'other' rules.

I wonder how many people who decide to retire in a place like Thailand, rather than in their home country, have really thought it through. One thing about a place like Ireland, or Austrlia (which is where I and my wife live) is that retired people are given some kind of safety net if things go really bad for them.

What happens if you end up having a stroke, or getting dementia, or contracting prostate cancer (like a lot of elderly men). Who will pay for your hospital/medical bills, who will pay for on going nursing care, etc etc.

Ironically, we are financially well able to cope in a place like Thailand, but my wife prefers life in Oz. She still has friends and family in Thailand, but she prefers the relatively safe, secure, and orderly life in a Western democracy.

Living in the Third World is great when you are young and strong and fit. Not so good when you are older and a bit unwell and need another hip replacement.

Sensible words of advice.

Yes agreed, sensible and should be taken into account.

Also to be taken into account should be the a) lifestyle choice and the cost of retirement in the 2 places contemplated, c) the fac that top grade medical insurance and nursing are available in Thailand.

Which is why the choice is not an easy one and depends on each individual or couples requirements and financial capabilities as well as their desire for a lifestyle.

My folks and elderly members of my family are retired and live in Western democracy/ies. They have the safety net, but at their own admission the cost of that safety net plus the cost of living is high and getting higher which effects their lifestyle. The lifestyle they have now is not the one they expectedto have when they were planning for their retirement.

In addition the Western democracies are now, due to their own ineptitude in managing their economines are "changing the rules" for retirement in the sense of age limits, benefits, taxation rates etc. etc.

So one needs to take all these things into account and make a balanced decision.

For me and mine, we would rather live the lifestyle we have here in LOS, where we manage our own requirements rather thna being controlled by governments who cannot and do not fulfill their promises. As for the medical aspect, we again would rather enjoy our lives here and deal with those circumstances when they arise with appropriate insurance cover , rather than take the safety net "in case" somethign happens, and be miserable every day and not enjoy our lifestlye.

Personal choice, wiegh the pro's and con's, as you see them.

Hi again Pat,

I think your decision to do a 3 month trial is agood idea on the basis you have set out.

While you are in Thailand and as part of your decision making process it would be worthwhile for you, in my opinion, to spend a couple of days in Singapore and talk directly to several of the Private Banking units there. There is no need for you to talk with Financial Advisors when you can talk to the Banks directly - saves you a) being given advcie that suits the advisor rather than you and saves you a lot of unnecessary fees. I sugges this because also asking advice at home about investing in Asia is not the same as getting the advcie yourself first hand. And a trip to Singapore fora few days will set you back maybe Euro 500-, wellworth the spend in my view. i have no interest in recommendingthis other than Singapore is a safe place to put your money if you eventually decide to do so. if you want some names then please PM me, otherwise you can google Singapore banks and find them for yourself, as a well as Singapore banking regulations as well.

Other than that I would recommend that you do your own investigating when you are here , rather than take third party advice talk directly be it to banks, immigration, or whatever.

all the best

Whilst i also have no sympathy, assuming it was the owner decision to take the risk. It must also be noted as previously posted that the law is administered 'selectively' by the BIB. There are plentyof Thai places which sell booze on such days and never seen them targetted. Why was M's targetted ?? Maybe a neighbor called it in? But also agree that its a big risk to take just for one day.

you may be able to get the stamp fixed at Immigration office at the airport . BUT i would make sure you do it well before the departure of your flight. The immigration office and passport control, is different . There is an Immigration office at the airport but i dont know the hours. You need to do this before you check in, maybe early tomorrow.

IF NOT then you will have to delay your departure by contacting the airline. The office should be open today and tomorrow , Saturday.

And I spent 7 years in Private Equity, where entrepreneurs put together multi million dollar real estate deals, the banks that back them lend them 80% of the property value : which by the way just happens to be the price the entreprneurs are paying for the property; so in effect it 100% financed by the bankers with no downside for the guys putting the deal together only upside.

So when the deal goes well and they sell out a t a profit they get richer.

But when these delas go t_ts up the banks and there shareholders end up holding the bag.

Yeh - these guys are brilliant too - brilliant at using other peoples money to get rich with no risk to them selves.

What happens when QE ends in June ? Rates go up / So housing crashes further / Company profits go down / Markets go down / USD falls /and so commodities up /

or have I got it wrong ?

Long term interest rate variable bonds a solution ?

from the FT http://www.ft.com/cm...s#axzz1DvP7OsIx

China pull-back paints unsettling rate picture

'One proposal advocated at the meeting for diversifying the base of investors would entail the Treasury issuing new securities, including “callable” debt, ultra-long bonds with maturities of up to 100 years and floating rate debt, on which payments to investors would rise and fall with inflation.

These securities could appeal to domestic investors, particularly prospective retirees. They could also enjoy increased demand from banks and pension funds as a result of new international banking rules and proposed reforms to pensions accounting. The advisory committee estimates demand for long-term US bonds could reach $2,400bn in the next five years as these new rules take effect. The alternative, should yields rise sharply, could be discomforting for taxpayers.'

churchill i am with you .

and as for the Long Term variable interest rate bonds ????????????? A new instrument to attract investors. 100 year maturity!!! Do these guys never learn!!

The last brainwave instrument - subprimemortgages & securitisation !! well that didnt work ! Lets dream up something else, indebt the nation for 100 years and hope that works.. at least in 100 years they wont be around to answer for it !!!

500,000 Euro is about 20,000,000 THB. Lets say you live for 20 years. That's 1,000,000 a year or 83,000 a month.

'

these kind of milkmaid calculations drive me nucking futs! is anybody who has 500k €UR stupid² enough not to invest that money in order to have an income of at least 100,000 Baht a month without touching a single penny of the capital?

The best i can get is 3.5% and my goverment takes 27% of the interest, if you invest anymore than 100k into any one bank you could lose as they will only guaranteed. €100k

so now i have 5 bank accounts, i am not really interested in stocks and shares look what can happen with them. remember I am 63

For the guy who said i could get 6.5% in any Australian Bank. sure i can't open a bank account in Australian if i don't live there. tell me if i'm right/wrong? Milkmaid calculations?

I must be a cow or what?

Pat

Hi Pat,

I am retired at 53 here in LOS. Have been for along time.

Your 500,000- Euros (20 million baht) and your pension are plenty to live on in Thailand.

And there is nothing to stop you opening a bank account with one of the many international banks located in Singapore which is avery low tax jurisdiction. With that amount of money you would be a Private banking client and they will look after you. These banks have multi currency depositabilities - so yes right now you could be earning 6.5% on Aussie dollars. They are full servcie and transfers to your Thai bank account would not be a problem. I am, in fact a lot more than that in interest.

I do agree withthe other sensible posters that when you move to Thailand you need to be careful and not splash out with capital. You can build avery nice house in the country for less than 1 million baht and a new car for 600-700,000- baht. Monthly exenses of 40-50,000- baht would cover and provide for a very reasonable life in Thailand (outside bangkok).

Also agreed dont come to Thailand and start lending money (to family or friends) or start a business and you would be fine.

I understand you situation as my Aunt who lives in the land of the Picts is in a similar situation and i have done comparisons for her on what it would cost her here vs there and she understand she could be very comfortable in Thailand vs being quite restricted at home.

Everyone has their own situation but from a financial perspective you would be fine with some money management.

all the best in your endeavors.

You may also find that Mobile phones are ("at the discretion of security officers") also not allowed in the VFS center. This has been the case, at times, when entering the Australian Embassy.

I am not Australian but as VHS Global also handles visa applications for the UK I am most concerned this practice will spread and hope it is stopped immediately.

VHS Global as I understand is a international company that is an off shut of Kuoni a Swiss travel company, what concerns me most is it seems to hold a monopoly on this sort of service with many countries now out sourcing to it and without viable competition respectable governments will not have the option to take their business elsewhere.

Sorry maybe a bit off topic but...

What I would like to know is why the governments are outsourcing in the first place. Not enough staff at the Embassies???

1.They are supposed to be saving costs after the financial crisis - surely engaging this company is an extra cost.

2. What about security of personal information ? Which used to go only to your government now being in the hands of outsiders.

3. In countries like Thailand where privacy/corruption/scams can and do occur why would home governments even dream of outsourcing? No doubt some consultant has also been paid afortune to come up with this one..

I would say it would be nighe impossible without comingyourself. Do you have an ATM card ?

Only other possibility is if your Kbank account already has internet banking then you can transfer it to yourself.

Otherwise you may send a Power of Attorney (not advisable) to someone in Thailand.

Gay men/boys working in the scene are all 'gay' or 'bi'. Just occassionally a boy will tell you honestly that he is straight.

Once getting into a relationship, you'll find out that your partner suddenly has a sister who'd like to stay in your house or that he has a good friend somewhere.

Very well and concisely put.

As for the charts, enough with the boasting. 2009/2010 produced outsize returns for everyone. Hooray. But you're the only one on this thread compelled to repeatedly brag about it. Get a grip.

for the record: in this thread the only bragging is done by those who claim they bought gold during the last 5 years. some who are a wee bit more honest claim they started buying 10 years ago. both categories boast with fictitious profit percentages and you will find no one who bought gold in the 80s or 90s in a period when gold generated only losses.

i don't brag but state facts for comparison (as i did with the charts) when poor boys like you are trying to lecture an experienced and successful investor that he should read "essays" or blame him

quote: "That may explain why you failed to anticipate this secular bull market in gold..."

nota bene: experienced investors don't read essays about hyperinflation in Argentina that happened 20 years ago. they don't follow advice such as "trade commodities for real estate". experienced investors have used all means of diversification and possible available hedging to protect their net worth and of course experienced and successful investors own properties in different countries even if they live more or less exclusively in Thailand.

last not least even experienced and most successful investors "fail to anticipate bull markets in certain asset classes" but they care shit² as long as the bottom line of their portfolio shows good returns and they will only brag about these returns if/when provoked by envious poor boys.

For the record, " even experienced and most successful investors" fail to anticipate bear markets also...

Our friend has a Rover 820 he wants to sell sooner than later.

Any ideas other than sticking a notice on it ??

Already posted for him in TV classifieds.

Thanks in advance.

You should have made up the payment plan together with the police. so that they get their cut in each payment.

He probably still can !

Did l read here sometime ago that a guy was pulled by the BiB for lights on, something to do with only Police, government, or Royalty vehicles could so that others new they were important and to let them pass

well, thats why I have my Highwaypolice sticker in the windshield and lights on, in heavy traffic even fog lights and low beam on. and it works

but there is no law against daytime driving lights, and several new Euros like Audi and Benz have diode daytime lights not possible to switch off

all Police convoys use daytime lights, usually high beam

So, where can I get one?

apply and complete a Highwaypolice Volunteer course

or any local Sticker makingshop.!!

onnut i think you are making the right choice. even if you weren't having financial troubles, i would still personally walk away from this lemon house. these silly notions about a Thai bank chasing you to England over a debt is just silly. I have never heard of a Thai bank arresting a farang and holding them in Thailand until their 30 year long debt is paid. I don't even hear them doing this to Thais. There is no debtors prison in Thailand or the UK.

who knows what will happen in the next 5 years. there could easily be another banking crisis that includes LOS.

Not quite true. Thai banks will not likely chase anyone overseas. BUT they will put it on your and your co-signers Credit Report and it will stay there forever. And as previously posted if the house is in his wifes name and she has a co-signer what is that person supposed to do after OP and wife leave ??

And passports are confiscated.

Better try to negotiate with the bank - they would rather negotiate than have it as a new NPL - interest onlyloans are available at Thai banks in such circumstances.

BTW if the loan is 4.5 milion then over 25 years it is still at appx 32-34,000- per month.

This is a new one on me. But everyone who enters and leaves the Kingdom by air is photographed - maybe just an extension of that procedure.

Or maybe its an indication that Imm is finally going online with their records.

I am not so sure that these departments do communicate.

It never occurred to me a while back that when I changed jobs and went to work in Singapore that my extension to stay in Thailand was npo longer valid.

I continued to come in and out of Thailand every two weeks and still used the same re entry number on my passport for nine months until it expired. Not once did immigration ever question me on coming into Thailand.

Hmmm!!!! Then the question arises when you were stamped in on arrival did immigration stamp you in related to the Re-Entry stapm validity or just give you a Visa free entry for 30 day each time ?? In my experience they do check the validity date of re-entry stamps.

Understood, but not sure that the 'actual' price of gold was effected. The fact that the "haves" (with the food and other essentials) took advantage of the holders of gold and other precious items and traded them for next to nothing was "usery" and not actually relatedto the then gold price/standard.

academic arguments, logical conclusions and explanations won't be valid during a real crisis. assuming i have food and a roof over my head i will not accept gold for both as a trade-in because i can neither eat gold nor can i live in a gold bar. in case i have two homes and food in abundance i might sell some.

agreed, but if you have a large supply of food and trade 'some' for gold, then once the crisis recedes you will have both a roof over your ehad and food to eat, plus goldacquired at a very cheap price. Not academic - reality, ascrisis don tlast forever.

Sorry to hear these stories, and seem to be more of them.

Carrying handbags has never ben recommended in Bangkok in the 20+ years Ive been here.

Go to see Ginny at Sabu Sabu, she will arm you with all 100% natural prodcuts made right here in Chiangmai..

or see the website

Cheapest option in the long run would be to pay a moto cycle taxi driver to "take out" the MIL in a hit and run.

:cheesy:

Crooks, haaaaa haaaaa haaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

Crooooooooooooooooooooooooooooks???????????????????/

:lol:

Yeah, those fuc_kers can laugh.

Yeh they are laughing at how much (private) money they made out of switching from subprime mortgages to gold before the 'crisis' they engineered!!!!!!!!!!!1